Set during the war between Serbians and Bosnians in the 1990s, Angelina Jolie’s well-intended narrative feature directorial debut In the Land of Blood and Honey revolves around the queasy romance between a Serbian military leader and a Bosnian muslim woman. They meet before the war really gets going and are reconnected when she ends up (read…)

The “trailer event” that was soooo goddamn important, they had to have an ad the other day just to let you know it was coming. Was it worth it? I don’t know. Fanboy speculation/confusion continues as to whether this is an Alien movie or not, but it seems pretty clear it’s a matter of nitpicking. (read…)

Poland’s official entry for the Academy Award for best foreign language film. The synopsis: “From acclaimed director Agnieszka Holland, In Darkness is based on a true story. Leopold Socha, a sewer worker and petty thief in Lvov, a Nazi occupied city in Poland, one day encounters a group of Jews trying to escape the liquidation (read…)

Matt Damon is Bourne free, as free as the wind blows, as free as the grass grows… [Editor’s Note: While I do most of the reviewing around here, Jackson got a jump on the latest from Cameron Crowe so he can do the honors.] We Bought a Zoo is an emotionally engaging crowd-pleaser, featuring touching (read…)

“War Horse is a great movie as long as you are a 5-year-old girl that loves horses and has never seen a movie before.” Oderus Urungus, GWAR That cracks me up even though I’m a guy who is older than 5, who has seen several movies yet still finds War Horse moving and lovely. via: (read…)

Abigail Breslin has joined Asa Butterfield (Hugo) in the cast of the upcoming adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s sci-fi novel Ender’s Game while Harrison Ford and Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) are now official. Breslin will play Butterfield’s older sister, Valentine Wiggin. Several other kids I’ve never heard of were also added to the cast including (read…)

In this morning’s orgy of list catching up, I neglected J. Hoberman of The Village Voice who bookends his personal top 10 with what he calls extra-theatrical projections. Be sure to hit The Voice for his explanations: The Clock 1. A Dangerous Method 2. Melancholia 3. Mysteries of Lisbon 4. Aurora 5. Seeking the Monkey (read…)

“Lisbeth, oh Lisbeth. Say, have you met Lisbeth, Lisbeth the dragon-tattooed lady?” The biggest mystery behind David Fincher’s icy thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is why the auteur felt the need to remake the adequate if unspectacular Swedish original in the first place. After seeing the movie itself, that question remains unanswered. It’s (read…)

“The Women Film Critics Circle is an association of 57 women film critics and scholars from around the country and internationally, who are involved in print, radio, online and TV broadcast media. We came together in 2004 to form the first women critics organization in the United States, in the belief that women’s perspectives and voices (read…)

I’m just doing the top 10 films and the best in the individual categories. For a full breakdown (including the pointless “Worst” list) and to immerse yourself in the “Passiondex” wherein the editors parse the list in every way possible, by all means head over to The Village Voice. Votes Mentions 1. The Tree of (read…)

Best Picture: Drive (runner-up: The Artist) Best Achievement in Directing: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist (runner-up: Nicholas Winding Refn, Drive) Best Lead Performance by an Actor: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 50/50 (runner-up: Jean Dujardin, The Artist) Best Lead Performance by an Actress: Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn (runner-up: Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) Best (read…)

This is the Black Film Critics Circle’s 2nd year as an awards-giving entity. Here’s how they describe themselves in the official press release: “Founded in 2010, the Black Film Critics Circle is a membership organization comprised of film critics of color from daily newspapers, weekly newspapers, magazines, radio, television and qualifying on-line publications. The organization (read…)

At least I think that’s his top film. Todd didn’t assign numbers to his list, but The Descendants is at the top and they’re not in alphabetical order. Plus, a picture from The Descendants illustrates the piece which you should read for the introduction and quick sentence each to explain the picks. The Descendants, Alexander (read…)

I went into Wim Wender’s 3D documentary on legendary dancer/choreographer Pina Bausch knowing nothing about her or her Tanztheater Wuppertal ensemble and having very little familiarity with modern dance. I came away totally captivated and eager to know more. Wenders was similarly captivated by a 1985 performance of the ensemble’s “Café Müller.” He and Bausch (read…)

Of the two dueling Deep Throat star biopics, this is the one starring Amanda Seyfried as Linda Lovelace, Peter Sarsgaard as her pimp/husband Chuck Traynor and Sharon Stone as her mom. Juno Temple and Wes Bentley were recently added to the cast and, with shooting scheduled to start today, they’re joined by Hank Azaria as (read…)

Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi saw his film, A Separation, start the awards season off with a bang, leaving the gate with Critics Choice, Golden Globe, and Independent Spirit Award nominations for Best Foreign Language Film. In addition, A Separation also received the Best Foreign Language Film recognition from the National Board of Review and was (read…)

Another critic goes for The Tree of Life. You know, after the supposedly high and mighty NY and LA critics chickened out, I was expecting all the other critics and critics’ groups to pretty much follow suit, but a surprising number have praised Terrence Malick’s divisive film. Bring on the rest of the awards. I’ll (read…)

The frustrating thing about Rodrigo Garcia’s Albert Nobbs is not that it’s a bad movie (and it is a bad movie), it’s that for almost an hour it seems like it might actually be a good one. The story of a woman passing herself off as a male butler working in a 19th century Dublin (read…)

[Note: This review was written based on a 2D presentation of The Adventures of Tintin as seen on a DVD screener which I freely admit is no way to properly appreciate such a richly visual movie. I probably shouldn’t even run this review, and if I hadn’t liked the film I wouldn’t, but I’ll be (read…)

I know this is gone way beyond ridiculous, but I forget every year that once you start it’s hard to stop posting these things even long after any meaning they might have had is lost in the kudo cacophony. BEST PICTURE(-) The Tree of Life BEST DIRECTOR(-) Terrence Malick–The Tree of Life BEST ACTOR(-) Michael (read…)

TOP TEN FILMS The Descendants The Artist Hugo Moneyball The Tree of Life Drive Midnight in Paris Win Win War Horse The Help BEST ACTOR Winner – George Clooney (The Descendants) Runner-up – Michael Fassbender (Shame) BEST ACTRESS Winner – Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady Runner-up – Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin (read…)

If you saw the terrific documentary Trumbo (or maybe even if you didn’t), you’ll recall writer/screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was one of the notorious Hollywood Ten, a group of writers and directors who were hauled before the House Un-American Activities Committee to testify on Communist influence in Hollywood. When he refused to name names, Trumbo was (read…)

indieWIRE’s 6th Annual survey of “critics, bloggers and other tastemakers from around the world” is up. This is almost an entirely unimpeachable list as far as I’m concerned. My one nitpick is with the best undistributed film which I couldn’t stand, but I’m glad to see the terrific Green was a very close second. For (read…)

How you can tongue kiss The Artist in just about every other category without acknowledging the best part of the film which is Jean Dujardin is a total mystery to me, but whatever. No one asked me. Best Film: The Artist Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) Best Actor: George Clooney (The Descendants) Best Actress: Rooney Mara (The Girl (read…)